The Bulls and the Rattlers, Bradford's teams in the Greater Metro Junior A Hockey League, met on Wednesday night for Game 2 of their semi-final series in the GMHL North Division championship.
The Rattlers took Game One 4-1; the Bulls were looking to even up the series, with a win of their own on home ice, at the Bob Fallis Sports Complex.
But somehow, between Game 1 and Game 2, the Good Fairy of Passing must have visited the Rattlers and delivered gifts of hard skating and precision passing, because the Rattlers came out in the First Period as if they were a brand new team.
They scored their first goal just under nine minutes into the frame, on a fluky flip shot from the corner by #55 Tikhon Ashikhmin, assisted by #9 Rizvan Mansurov and #17 Tyler Baxter.
Less than a minute later, the Rattlers scored again – this time by #18 Florian Schaller from #16 Brayden Uluqsi – and the Rattlers had a 2-0 lead.
The Bulls pressed hard all through the period, but the Rattlers could have called themselves “the fast and the furious”, intercepting the puck and completing every pass. They continued to swarm the Bulls’ end, and Bulls goalie Travis Smith (#30) needed some big saves to hold the score to 2-0 after one period.
The second period began with a third Rattlers marker, less than a minute into the frame. Once again it was the starting line-up that delivered, with a second goal by Ashikhmin from Mansurov and #91 Michael Hill.
The game remained fast-paced but got more physical – with penalties issued for Checking from Behind (Bulls #17 Shawn Soliman), tripping (Rattler Vaclav Boguaj #25), Cross-checking (Rattlers #9 Rizvan Mansurov) and Hooking (Bulls #16 Michael Haddad).
Even with Rattlers in the penalty box, the Bulls were unable to beat goalie Andrei Berezinsky (#1) – and it was the Rattlers who scored again, 12 minutes and 40 seconds into the period, on a shot by #6 Stepan Levitskiy, from #2 Oleg Grishatov and #10 Martin Nagy
Less than a minute later, the Rattlers, showing no mercy, made it 5-0 on a goal by Hill from Uluqsi and Ashikhmin.
Both goalies made save after save, and the period ended with the Rattlers ahead 5-0.
In the Third, the teams continued to play hard, with end-to-end rushes and break-aways. The Bulls finally beat goalie Berezinsky, seven minutes and 41 seconds into the frame. Liam Silva (#8) scored, on assists from #23 Dylan Henri and #7 Gage Janse, spoiling the shutout.
Tensions ran high, and more penalties were handed out in Period 3 than in the other two frames combined.
The final five minutes saw some serious penalties, that sent Rattlers star Tikhon Ashikhmin to the dressing room with a Game misconduct and five-minute penalty for checking from behind, along with Bull Daniel Butt and Rattler Daniel Suda, both of whom received 5 minutes for fighting. Bull Alexander Quinn was sent off with a 10-minute Misconduct, with just over 3 minutes left on the clock.
With the 5-1 win, Rattlers now hold a 2-0 series lead.
Stars of the Game went to Rattlers, for both their strong defense and their relentless attacks, sending 54 shots on the Bulls' net.. Star #1 was goalie Andrei Berezinsky, who blocked all but one of the 38 shots on net. Star #2 went to Tikhon Ashikhmin, notching 2 goals and an assist in the winning cause, and Star #3 to Michael Hill (1 Goal, 1 Assist).
Game 3 in the Best of 5 series will take place on Saturday, at the BWG Leisure Centre, at 7:30 p.m.
